China's star striker Wu Lei returned to Chinese Super League's (CSL) Shanghai Port after three and a half years with Spanish club Espanyol, announced the Chinese club on Thursday.

Wu, 30, joined Espanyol in the middle of the 2018-19 La Liga season, after leading Shanghai to their first CSL title. He scored 16 goals in a total of 126 appearances for Espanyol, as he became the first Chinese player to score in the Spanish topflight league.

Wu recalled two goals as his highlights at Espanyol, one being the goal he scored in the final round of La Liga against Real Sociedad in May 2019, which granted the club a berth at the Champions League, while the other one happened during a Catalan derby against Spanish giants Barcelona in January 2020 when his late goal forced a 2-2 draw.

Wu spared no effort to contribute to the Chinese squad's campaign throughout the Qatar World Cup qualifiers in the past years. His last-minute goal against Vietnam in the World Cup Asian qualifier in October 2021 retained the Chinese team's hope to Qatar, though four months later, the hope fell short after a 1-3 loss to Vietnam.

Wu was crowned Chinese Men's Footballer of the Year thrice, in 2019, 2020, and 2022. In his six seasons with Shanghai Port, he scored 102 goals in 172 CSL appearances, which remains an unbroken club record.

(With input from Xinhua)